HIEROGLYPH ORIGINS

A hieroglyph (which is Greek for "sacred writing") is a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system.

Hieroglyphs emerged from the preliterate artistic traditions of Egypt.
For example, symbols on Gerzean pottery from c. 4000 BC have been argued to resemble hieroglyphic writing.
Proto-hieroglyphic symbol systems develop in the second half of the 4th millennium BC,
such as the clay labels of a Predynastic ruler called "Scorpion I"
(Naqada IIIA period, c. 33rd century BC) recovered at Abydos (modern Umm el-Qa'ab)
in 1998 or the Narmer Palette (c. 31st century BC).

The first full sentence written in hieroglyphs so far discovered was found on
a seal impression found in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen at Umm el-Qa'ab,
which dates from the Second Dynasty (28th or 27th century BC).

There are around 800 hieroglyphs dating back to the Old Kingdom,
Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom Eras. By the Greco-Roman period, there are more than 5,000.